Keep Calm And Watch Wrestling

Menu

WWE Smackdown Live Hits and Misses 11.15.19 w/ The Chairman

This week Smackdown hails from Philadelphia and as we push closer towards Survivor Series we have to ask the question. Does NXT invade again? Also Nikki Cross looks to join Team Smackdown at Survivor Series, but in order to do so she has to defeat Smackdown Women’s Champion Bayley. Also an interesting Miz TV is on tap when he brings on his rival Daniel Bryan. Let’s see where the hits and misses are this week.

MISS: Roman Reigns Gets a New Theme and Mascot

Well strike one on this episode because they’re starting the show with King Corbin yet again. You’d think they’d learn after last week after how terrible his opening promo was received they wouldn’t go down this road, but here we are again. Does FOX not want people to watch their network? Of course this time it’s worse because Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode join him in the ring as his court. It’d be alot cooler if we had Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Cesaro as the top heel trio of Smackdown, not Corbin, Roode, and Ziggler. What makes this even worse is they continue mocking Roman Reigns theme with obnoxious dog barks and they even bring out a dog mascot. Corbin of course still on the Roman Reigns isn’t a leader bandwagon and is annoyed he has team with him and his new buddies Shorty G and Ali at Survivor Series where he would rather team with Roode and Ziggler. So of course a match is made where if Roode and Ziggler win, they replace Shorty G and Ali.

HIT: Ali and Shorty G Solidifying Themselves as a Team

I know it’s hard, but if you can look past the King Corbin garbage, this match wasn’t bad. As I was watching, I started to think to myself that Ali and Shorty G could become a legit tag team in a division lacking depth. Of course I still can’t take Shorty G seriously until he drops this terrible gimmick and goes back to Chad Gable. It was your typical match where the heels get the upper hand because King Corbin was out there to assist Roode and Ziggler. Roman Reigns however seen enough and came to ringside to even the odds at ringside. Things were starting to fall apart for Roode and Ziggler so Corbin tried to get involved, but Reigns took him out with the Drive By. Corbin then gets a Roman Reigns Spear nullifying the threat. Shorty G suplexed Ziggler and then was properly finished off by Ali’s 450 Splash to secure the win and keep their spots at Survivor Series. It just shocks me Smackdown wouldn’t want the 2014 MVP in Dolph Ziggler who led one of the greatest comebacks ever in Survivor Series history.

MISS: Braun’s Not Finished With Gulak and The B Team Yet

At first I thought we were getting a three on one handicapped match where Braun just squashes the opposition. Instead we got another Gulak Powerpoint presentation attempt before Braun destroyed everything in the ring. This was basically a filler segment that continued to make Gulak look stupid which is frustrating because he was amazing in 205 Live when he was a serious badass wrestler. There’s no hope for B Team so I’m fine with Braun destroying them. This segment basically accomplished nothing.

HIT: New Day Give Revival a Rematch

I thought the days of automatic rematch clauses were a thing of the past, but I won’t complain this time because New Day and Revival are fun to watch. I personally thought this match was better than the one they had last week even though we didn’t get a proper finish. This match was all over the ring and showed the strengths of all four wrestlers involved. For a moment it was looking like the Revival were going to recapture the Smackdown Tag Team Championship when they hit the Shatter Machine on Big E. However Kofi Kingston somehow broke up the pin saving the titles. Unfortunately we’ll never know who was going to walk out of Smackdown the winners because all four members of Undisputed Era from NXT invaded and attacked everyone in the ring. Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O’Reilly sent a message and left as the Smackdown locker cleared out to ringside. I’m hoping New Day goes to NXT this upcoming Wednesday and seeks revenge.

MISS: Heavy Machinery Squash

Really nothing to say here. Heavy Machinery squash two local talents in a quick match. Could’ve just used the B Team here and nobody would’ve noticed the difference. Next….

HIT: Nikki Cross and Bayley (Again…) Doesn’t Happen After All

I didn’t understand the whole concept of why Nikki Cross had to defeat Bayley to get on Team Smackdown? Sasha and Bayley talked smack before the match about how Bayley didn’t need Sasha out there tonight to beat Nikki. However Shayna Baszler from NXT showed up before the match and Bayley wasn’t looking for a fight. Bayley tried to escape in the crowd, but was met by NXT’s Rhea Ripley, Tegan Nox, Dakota Kai, and Mia Yim. This led to Sasha Banks, Carmella, and Dana Brooke coming out and a eight women tag team match was made with Nikki Cross joining Sasha, Carmella, and Dana taking on Ripley, Nox, Kai, and Yim. Of course a commercials ruin an epic moment for women’s wrestling, but what do you expect with WWE and their terrible commercial placement. When it was all said and done Nikki Cross took down Kai with the Twisting Neckbreaker to score the win. Well if this doesn’t convince you on why Kai didn’t make the War Games team, I don’t know what does. Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose came down after the match and chased off the NXT women once in for all. I found it rather odd the NXT women that showed up on Smackdown were assisting Shayna Baszler who they’re feuding with??? Apparently it’s okay to be allies one night and rivals the next. Same could be said for Sasha Banks and Nikki Cross all the sudden aligning? Maybe I’m overlooking things, but let’s keep the stories consistent.

HIT: The Fiend’s First Universal Championship Defense Announced

Earlier in the show, Bray Wyatt in the Firefly Funhouse turned the Universal Championship from red to blue officially making it a Smackdown title being it’s known as the blue brand. I’m fine with the decision and I think the blue looks better than red. Miz has Daniel Bryan on Miz TV and it’s clear they still don’t care for one another. Part of me was hoping this would’ve turned Miz heel, but it didn’t get that far. Miz kept asking Bryan why he thinks the Fiend attacked him. Bryan had no comment so Miz assumes the Fiend picked him is because he’s weak and wants to end Daniel Bryan once in for all. This leads to Bryan going on a rant about how Miz TV sucks and goes on about his mental state. Bryan says he doesn’t know who he is anymore and how Bray Wyatt is mentally unstable as well. This opens the door for the Firefly Funhouse segment to air where Bray Wyatt says it’s not nice to talk about somebody behind their back since he isn’t in the ring with them. Wyatt then brings up the past between the two and why the Fiend selected him as a target. He never forgets… Wyatt then opens up a toybox and starts throwing random objects out and pulls out the Universal Championship and asks Daniel if he wants to play with it? All he has to do is say one word. Bryan keeps yelling NO while the Firefly Funhouse puppets keep saying YES. Bryan then says if they’re going to fight, he wants to fight for the Universal Championship. Wyatt hysterically laughs yelling YES and it’s official that at Survivor Series we’re getting The Fiend vs Daniel Bryan. I’m all for this match and excited for it. Sure beats seeing another cross brand meaningless triple threat that we could’ve had between Brock Lesnar, The Fiend, and Adam Cole and then struggling to decide who has to eat the loss when all three of them are booked flawlessly right now.

The show started off on a sour note with them continuing to push King Corbin, but things picked up once the NXT storylines came back into play. However there’s concern after Survivor Series when Smackdown can’t rely on NXT anymore for a interest boost. However we have an amazing feud in the works now for the Universal Championship between The Fiend Bray Wyatt and Daniel Bryan. Definitely the most exciting program on the show, if not between Smackdown and Raw both. I’m just hoping they start doing more with Sami Zayn’s group because he has been top notch in his role and somebody has to challenge Shinsuke Nakamura for the Intercontinental Championship at some point right? It looked like it was going to be Daniel Bryan, but things changed for him when the Fiend didn’t forget about him and set his target there. Smackdown hasn’t been perfect, but they’re doing a few things right. Just need to stop pushing King Corbin as a top heel when he’s midcard at best.

The HTCWrestling Podcast

The Hot Tag Wrestling Podcasts

Keep Calm & Watch Wrestling

The Hot Tag Wrestling Podcast brings you all the latest in the world of pro wrestling. Every week, Justin C, Cam and "The Chairman" Steven Vincent give you their thoughts on everything from WWE, AEW, NXT, New Japan and More! Whether it is the current product or a look back at pro wrestling's past, the Hot Tag Wrestling Podcast brings you the hottest takes in the pro wrestling podcast world!